Street letter-box.



' PATENTED FEB. 6, 1906.

A. J. ARSENAULT. STREET LETTER BOX.

APPLIOATIQN FILED JULY 3, 1905.

iv film/1 NTTE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 6, 1906.

Application filed y 3, 1905. Serial No. 268,031.

To all when l, it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT J. ARsENAULT,

a citizen of the United States,residing at Boston, county of Suflol k, and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Street Letter-Boxes, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters and figures on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention relates to letter-boxes to be used in streets and other places where mail is deposited that is to be collected by oilicials and taken to the post-oflice The letter-boxes now commonly employed in this country are provided with an opening through which mail is deposited into the box, and near their lower end at one side are provided with another opening closed by a door, through which opening the contents of the box are removed. The door for this discharge-opening is locked and only the authorized persons have the key thereto. In accordance with my present invention I provide a letter-box of this type with an open lower end adapted to be closed by a movable bottom, and I employ a locking device for the movable bottom which is operated or controlled by the door which closes the usual discharge-opening, so that in order to open the movable bottom for the discharge of mail it is necessary first to unlock the usual door and by opening the latter unlock the bottom.

The particular features wherein my invention resides will be more fully hereinafter described, and then pointed out in the claims.

Figure 1 shows a street letter-box partially broken out to illustrate my invention, the dotted lines showing the door open and the bottom of the box in a position to permit the discharge of the letters and other matter into the bag, which is partially shown. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section in the line :20, Fig. 1. Fig. 2 shows a modification to be referred to. Fig. 3 shows a modified form oi. letter-box. Fig. 4 is a section in the line at, Fig. 3; and Fig. 5 is a view of the box shown in Fig. 3 bclow the dotted. line :l'ie'li-srring to the drawings, A represents the side walls or body of the usual metallic letter-box commonly employed in city streets; A, its top; A, the usual balanced cover for the slot throi'lgh which letters, &e., are inserted in the box, and a the usual hinged door closing an opening in the side of the box and through which the mail-matter in the old construction box has been withdrawn, said door having the usual lock 0;. The parts thus far described are such as are usuallyfound in mail-boxes now in common use. Imaccordance with. my invention I provide a mail-box of this character with an open lower end into which is fitted a frame B in any suitable way, the upper end of the frame being shown as entering the open lower end of the mail-box. The frame B is open at its bottom-and presents a depending skirt 1), from which project suitable lugs 12, which serve to receive hooks 2 at the upper end of? the bag C, that is suspended at the lower end of the box to receive the letters when the bottom of the box is moved to permit the letters to be discharged. The frame B is shown as provided with guideways to receive a bottom D, represented in Figs. 1, 2, and 2 as a plate providedat one end with a handpiece (1, that may be'engaged and drawn outwardly into the dotted-line positionwhen the usual door a, having the lock (L is opened into the dotted-line position, Fig. 1. This door is provided with a locking device a, shown as a projection of sector shape, and the bottom plate D, Figs. 1 and 2, is shown as provided with a coacting part, shown as a notch d that when the bottom plate is shoved into the box to sustain the mail-matter comes in line with the locking device a, so that the door of the box may be closed and locked, and the looking device at such time will enter the notch in the bottom plate and prevent the movement of the bottom plate. The locking device also serves to prevent the possibility of the collector of the mail-matter from leaving the or the same, as

box without properly lockin the bottom of the door cannot be closed untiT the box has been pushed into its operative position, at which time only the locking device enters the notch in the bottom plate. The door a has the usual side flanges e that are not wholly withdrawn from the box when thedoor is opened. The hinges e of the door are secured thereto and to the bar. 6 at the bottom of the box and preferably sustained by the frame B.

Figs. 1 and 2 show the parts or device coacting with the locking device as a slot; but my invention would not be departed from if the eoaeting parts or device was made a lump (1, (see Fig. 2%) extended longitudinally of the bottom D, said lump containing a notch properly located to beentered by the locking device when the door a) is closed.

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ventlon in which instead of the bottom D being made to slide longitudinally the bottom is shown as composed of two plates E E. The plate E has at its edge a lip 6 that underlies the edge of the plate E. The outer edges of each of these plates is connected with rods 0 e, the rod e at one end of the box having a handpiece e and at the opposite ends of said rods each rod has connected with it a toothed sector, as ff, the teeth of which engage one the other. In this modification the toothed sectors are arranged outside the end of the box, and a hood f connected with the box, shields the sectors and prevents them being tampered with when the box is closed. The bottom plate E has at its end opposite that where is located the sector an upright stand or device g, having a hole, and the inner side of the door a has a stop 9 and a locking device g the latter being shown as a pin projected from the inner side of the door and entering a hole in the device 9, whereas the stop g serves to arrest the bottom plate when the same is turned upwardly in the act of closing the bottom of the box.

To discharge the mail-matter from the box, Figs. 3 to 5, the usual door a must be first unlocked and opened, thereby withdrawing the locking device from the hole in the device g, and thereafter the handpiece e may be engaged and the rod 6 turned, and as said rod is turned the segment f, connected therewith at its opposite end, in engagement with the segment f, connected with the rod 6, causes the bottom plates to be moved, the movement of the bottom plates downwardly with relation to their meeting ends opening the bottom of the box, so that the ma1lmatter resting thereon may be dropped into the usual bag.

From the above it will be seen that the gist of my invention resides in taking the ordinary letter-box now in common use, substituting for the fixed bottom thereof a movable bottom which can be opened to permit the contents of the box being discharged through said open bottom, and also providing a looking device carried or controlled by the usual door a through which the mail has heretofore been removed, which locking device is adapted to engage and lock the movable bottom in its closed position when the door a is closed, and which locking device is also so arranged that it will be impossible to close the door (1 except when the movable bottom is closed.

The drawings show and the specification describes two embodiments only of my invention.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a mail-box having an opening in its lower end for the discharge of mail, a movable closure for said opening, a door closing an opening in the side of the box above the opening in the lower end thereof, and means carried by the door to lock the closure in closed position.

2. A mail-box having a movable bottom rovided with an opening combined with a door having an attached locking device adapted to enter the opening in the movable bottom as the door is closed provided the movable bottom occupies its closed position.

8. A mail-box having a lower open end, an open frame secured to said lower open end, a movable bottom for said frame, a door closing an opening in the side of the mail-box above the frame, and a locking device for the movable bottom, said locking device being connected to the door.

4. In a mail-box, a body having an opening in its lower end, and provided with a door carrying a locking device, and a bottom to close said lower open end, said bottom having a member coacting with the locking device to prevent the closing of the door until the bot tom occupies its closed position.

5. A mail-box having an opening in its lower end for the discharge of mail, a movable closure for said opening, a door closing an opening in the box above the lower end thereof, and means carried by and movable with the door to engage the closure and lock the same in closed position.

6. A mail-box having an open lower end, anopen frame detachably secured to the lower end of the mail-box, a movable bottom for said frame, a door closing an opening in the mail-box above the frame, and a locking device carried by the door and movable therewith and adapted to engage the bottom and lock the same in closed position when the door is closed.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ALBERT J. ARSENAULT. 

